El tiempo, manido gran destructor, hace que todo pase, pero no deja de dar para una reflexión el que, si le preguntamos a cualquier persona promedio de una ciudad occidental, ésta sea capaz de decirnos muchas cosas de las que hizo París Hilton en su corta e improductiva vida (¿será ese el gran mérito que le envidiamos? ¿mostrarnos una versión actual de la fantasía de la princesa: una perfecta inútil que goza su inutilidad, pero no porque admiremos la inutilidad en sí, si no por los efectos casi extáticos de su mezcla con el poder y la riqueza intensos?) y ni apenas el nombre de más de uno de los 12 seres humanos que han estado caminando en la luna.

Para los curiosos, The Guardian nos cuenta de la vida, opaca (o no) y milagros llamativos (o no) de los únicos humanos que habrán ido nunca a la luna, si la cosas siguen como van.


The 12 men who walked on the moon

Neil Armstrong
Apollo 11, 1969

Born in 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong was a navy pilot during the Korean war before becoming an astronaut. He has since worked both in business and academia. Since 1994 he has refused to give any autographs after discovering that his signature was being sold for thousands of dollars to collectors. In 2005 he also sued his barber for selling his hair to space fans.

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
Apollo 11

Aldrin also fought in the Korean war as a fighter pilot before becoming an astronaut. After his moon flight, he suffered bouts of severe depression and alcoholism which he chronicled in Return to Earth and in his latest memoir Magnificent Desolation. Aldrin remains an ardent advocate of manned space flight.

Charles "Pete" Conrad
Apollo 12, 1969

The third man on the moon, Conrad was a flight instructor for the US navy before becoming an astronaut. He was killed in 1999 after a motorcycle accident in California. He was 69.

Alan Bean
Apollo 12

Like Armstrong, Bean claimed Scottish ancestry and even took a piece of the McBean tartan to the moon. Bean quit Nasa to become an artist in Houston. He paints only space scenes.

Alan Shepard
Apollo 14, 1971

America's first man in space, in 1961, Shepard made front pages round the world after playing golf on the moon. He was made a rear admiral before retiring, and died in 1998 of leukaemia.

Edgar Mitchell
Apollo 14

A former naval pilot, Mitchell conducted private psychic experiments while on the moon and later founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences to conduct experiments into consciousness and other paranormal events.

David Scott
Apollo 15, 1971

After his mission, Nasa refused to let Scott fly again after it was discovered he had taken commemorative stamps to the moon which he later sold to dealers. He also made headlines, in 2003, when he became engaged, briefly, to British newsreader Anna Ford.

James Irwin
Apollo 15

After his moon flight, Irwin founded the High Flight Foundation, an evang elical organisation in Colorado Springs, and later led expeditions to Turkey's Mount Ararat in search of Noah's ark. He died in 1991, aged 61.

John Young
Apollo 16, 1972

Young flew on Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle missions. He was openly critical of Nasa in the wake of the shuttle Challenger disaster but continued to work for the agency. He retired in 2004.

Charles Duke
Apollo 16

The youngest of the 12 men who walked on the moon, Duke will be 74 in October. After he returned from his lunar journey, Duke discovered God and became involved in prison ministry.

Harrison "Jack" Schmitt
Apollo 17, 1972

The only moonwalker who was never a member of the US armed forces, Schmitt - a geologist - turned to politics after his mission and was elected Republican senator for New Mexico. He was defeated after one term in 1982.

Eugene Cernan
Apollo 17

The last man to walk on the moon, Cernan was a naval pilot and then an astronaut, flying on Gemini and Apollo missions. He later started his own consultation company, the Cernan Corporation, and became chairman of Johnson Engineering which handles flight crew systems development for Nasa's Johnson Space Centre.

Los que fueron a la cascabelera